New research projects will help enable the future take-up of greener, hydrogen-based fuels in the UK, according to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Its Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will provide £615,000 over the next six months to fund two hydrogen research coordinators.
These senior researchers will be based at the University of Bath and Newcastle University. They will lead multidisciplinary teams tackling the research and systems integration challenges blocking the wider use of hydrogen and alternative liquid fuels in the UK.
Both coordinators will work for six months from 01 April 2022 and use this time to build high-impact, multidisciplinary, multi-site teams, with the aim of building longer-term research alliances.
The team at Bath will work with a group of special advisors to engage and partner with policy makers and industry from across the supply chain. They will engage stakeholders and use a “theory of change” process to map the greatest research challenges, as well as potential solutions to these challenges and their impacts.
Furthermore, they will focus in particular on the potential for these fuels to help decarbonise transport, electricity generation and domestic and industrial heating.
While in Newcastle, the researchers will focus on the role of these fuels in the net zero transition in providing connectivity and flexibility across the energy system.
It aims to analyse the landscape, the challenges, and the demand for these fuels, to identify viable investment priorities. With the goal to deliver a fundamental shift in the critical analysis of the role of hydrogen in the context of the overall energy landscape.
The team will use digital and virtual engagement across stakeholders to bring fresh perspectives on future hydrogen pathways.
Dr Kedar Pandya, EPSRC director for cross-council programmes, said: “There is a growing consensus that these fuels will play a key role in the deep decarbonisation of all sectors of the UK economy, as exemplified by the publication of the government’s 2021 UK hydrogen strategy.
“Over the next six months, the hydrogen research coordinators will work across the UK to build an understanding, and galvanise expertise, in research and systems integration.
“The focussed, multi-stakeholder plan they create will support the consideration of hydrogen as a key component of the UK’s energy mix and inform EPSRC’s future plans for an integrated, ambitious research and innovation programme working across the hydrogen value chain and its major use sectors in partnership with business.”
